Why I'm Switching to Dorico

After being a dedicated Sibelius user, I've decided to give Steinberg's Dorico Pro a try and I can't be more satisfied. I share some of the benefits I found after using and testing it for a few weeks.

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[RyanLeach]

Yea, with just a bit of practice I got as quick with Dorico as I was with Sibelius. Not going back!

[LeeBlaske]

Finale is now owned by a fitness software company. Sibelius is owned by Avid. I could be wrong, but I don't expect to see much development from either of them. Meanwhile, Dorico development is on fire. It's amazing how Dorico has blasted past the competition.

[robinthomsoncomposer]

Made the switch a couple of years ago after using Sibelius for over 10 years. Dorico Pro just got even better with version 4 released this week

[rynesantos]

I was on Sibelius for 2 decades and made this switch just last week and have been loving these new quality of life updates. I switched mostly out of frustration at Avid for dragging their feet at optimizing natively for the new Mac M1s. It's been a year and a half still no Pro Tools or Sibelius updates. See you later Avid, it was good knowing you.

[jaredt]

Well, I guess now it is the time to switch again from Dorico to MuseScore 4 (with Muse Sounds lib)

[keithwalls]

I’ve used them all, and have used Dorico since it was first released. Dorico 4 is a very mature, full featured product.

[tomdavis]

I have used Finale software since its beginning until about two months ago. Composing mostly independent film, church, concert band, and large choir and orchestra pieces Finale did pretty much everything I needed. Then a composer friend called and said those deadly words, "Have you heard of Dorico?" The rest was history. I am a long way from being fully comfortable with Dorico, but the small brilliant contents are amazing. I made the switch. There have always been some things (small details) that were simply not available in Finale and communication with the company never resulted in any changes or inclusions. Often commissioned to do large dedicatory works with critical deadlines, the work flow of Dorico is worth the change.

[rmatosinhos]

I also came from Sibelius. Played around with Dorico for 6 months while kept doing all the projects in Sibelius. When I felt that was the time I made the switch. These were the times of Dorico 1.0, I saw it grow, became a Dorico certified trainer and now I help people around the world to make the switch, or work on specific subjects. Relating to the percussion mapping you refer. This wis completely different in Dorico, but it is really amazing, much easier than Sibelius. For each instrument you can establish different play techniques with different noteheads in the percussion kit editor.

[Musicombo]

Make sure you're using the note input *caret* as much as possible!! That's *the* fastest way to type in and edit notes during Write Mode. Think of Dorico like a music typewriter!

[JuanAMatos-zxub]

Also switched from Sib to Dorico the day Dorico came out a few years ago. The new upgrade is amazig, if you haven't checked it out yet. The only thing I'm missing is the ability to export PDF's per flow, instead of page ranges.

[franzcomposer]

I know your website and it is well done, essential, easy to consult. I will be updating mine shortly and having looked at your website has given me interesting suggestions

[TimWhalenMusic]

I switched in 2017, and haven't looked back since. I'm so pleased with Dorico.

[Pianodud]

Thanks for reviewing and introducing Dorico. I'm also a composer and by this video. I decided to buy Dorico 4.
(P.S. it's so sadly that MTF- Fonts developer no more sell those of font-stuffs)

[naedolor]

It was a cyber monday sale 50% off this year. I bought it instantly. It's really a no-brainer for 200 euros.

[VeitLehmann]

I admit I'm mostly new to music notation, I have used Capella and Sibelius many years back (far before the ribbons age). But now that MuseScore 4 was just released, I had to give it a try, and I watched some videos about Sibelius, Dorico and alternatives to refresh my mind and to see how things are right now.

I have to say I'm blown away by what the MuseScore team has accomplished! Seems like most of its drawbacks are gone. The auto spacing is amazing, the playback sounds mindblowing when using Muse Sounds, the UI is really slick, completely new design and UX, still familiar. The dialogs are so much more user friendly compared to the competition and the old version. Note input works similar to Sibelius. Slurs over multiple notes can be done by selecting them (shift + left/right arrow) and hitting S (you used your mouse for that in the other video). It's easy to operate via keyboard and you have a lot of freedom like tuning spacing manually with the mouse.

Dorico is also very interesting because it approaches things in a completely different way. I can imagine that it offers you features that you'd miss elsewhere. However, MuseScore does all I need and the results are far, far more professional compared to version 3. You should give it another try!

[arhoosier]

This was surprising seeing as you’ve been using Sibelius. I had recently saw Tantacrul’s video on dorico as well so this was interesting to watch.

[DavidArdittiComposer]

The main strengths of Dorico are its superior handling of multi-part works (the ’flows’ system) and its logical way of producing different score and part layouts, which, if one spends the initial time on getting the setup right, saves all the endless fiddling you get with other programs at the final copy production stage: everything just turns out right in all the parts, because it was set up to do so. The main drawback I see with Dorico currently, for professional or semi-pro composers, is that not many publishers use it. I hope this changes soon.

[JohsRIngaas]

Feature 4, at 1:27 you say that moving notes horizontally «is a small little feature that has no easy equvalent in Sibelius». Well, in Sibelius you move selected notes horizontally by using cmd-alt and arrow key. In Dorico it's exactly the same.

[DonaldMellor]

Using Dorico notation software has been an ongoing struggle, primarily due to the constant issues with sound functionality. I use Cresendo, much more friendly to use.

[Adam-Taylor-Composer]

I used Finale for about 20 years and I decided to give Dorico SE a try during COVID for a project. Within a week, I was hooked. I bought Dorico Pro 3, and have recently upgraded to 4. Now it actually HURTS to go back to Finale. It's so awful.